Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-12-15

| block in her arms, it was slow work, dread
| fully slow.
| The light was growing now, and pres
emily, in the silence, we heard commo-
| ton at the far-off bottom of the stair. and
| the faint clanking of armed men. As yet
| the wall was only two feet high, and we
| had been eight minutes at the building OF
| it. So they had come. Alphonse had
heard Alright
The clanking sound came nearer. and
| IN the ghostly gray of the dawning we
could make out long files of men, some
| fifty or so in all, slowly creeping up the
| stair. They We're now at the halfway
| standing place that rested on the great
| flying arch, and here, perceiving that some
/ thing was going on above. they, to our
great gain, halted for three or four minutes
| and consulted, then slowly and cautiously
| advanced again.
We had been nearly a quarter of an hour
! at the work now, and it was almost three
feet high.
! Then / awolSe Umslopogaas. The great
man rose, stretched himself, and swung
InkoSiSaaSi around his head
j sIt is we'll, . he said. Il feel as a Young
man once more. My strength has come
| back to me, ay, even as lamp flares up
before it dies. Fear not, 1 shall fight
good fight; the wine and the sleep have
| put a new heart into me-
| 'sMacumazahn, | have dreamed a dream.
| / dreamed that thou and stood together
on star, and looked down on the world,
and thou vast as spirit. Macumazahn,
| for light famed through thy flesh, but I
could not see what was the fashion of mine
| own face. The hour has come. for US. old
/ hunter So Us Is; we have mad our time.
| but would that in it had seen some more
| such fights as Yesterdays.
LET them bury me after the fashion of
| my people, Macumazahn, and set my eyes
| toward Zululand;'' and he took my hand
| and shook it, and then turned to face the
advancing foe
| Just then, to my astonishment, the Zu-
| Vendi officer, Kara, clambered over our
| improvised wall in his quiet determined
| sort of way, and took his stand by the
Zulu, unsheathing his sword as he did so.
what, comest thou, too?" laughed cut
| the old warrior ''Welcome-a welcome
| to thee, brave hearth Ow! for the man
who can die like man; ow! for the death
grip and the ringing of steel Owl we are
| ready. We wet our beaks like eagles, our
spears flash in the sun; we shake our as
segais. and are hungry to fight Who
comes to give greeting TO the Chieftainess
Qnkosikaas)? Who would taste her kiss,
whereof the fruit is deaths /, the Wood
pecf1er; |, the Slaughterer; |, the Swift
footedl /, Umslopogaas! of the tribe of the
MaquiliSini of the people of Amazulu, a
captain OF the regiment OF the Nkomaba-
koSl; l, UmSlopogaaS, the son of Indaba-
zimbi, the son of Arpi, the son of MosiH-
Katie; /, OF the royal blood of TfChSsza, [
OF the Kings House, [, the Hinged Man, l.
the lnduna; | call to them as n buck calls;
| challenge them, await them. Ow! it is
thou, it is thou!''
AS he spake, or rather chanted, his wild
war-song, the armed men, among whom
in the growing light | recognized both
Nasta and Agon, came streaming up the
stair witn3 rush, and one big fellow armed
With q heavy spear, dashed up the ten
seml-clrcular steps ahead of his comrades
and struck at the great Zulu with his
e1o IL
not his legs, SO that the blow missed Linn,
and the next instant Inkosikaas crashed
through headpiece, hair and skull and the
mans corpse was rafting down the steps.
AS he dropped, his round hippopotamus-
hide shield fell from his hand on the mar
BILE, and the Zulu stopped down and seized
it, still chanting as he did SO.
In another second the sturdy Kara had
also slain man, and then began a scene
the like OF which has not been known to
me.
Up rushed the assailants, one, two, three
at time, and as fast as they came, the AK
crashed and the sword swung. and down
they rolled again, dead or dying. And
ever as the fight thiekened, the old Zulu's
eye seemed to get quicker nd his arm
stronger. He shouted out his war-cries
and the names of chiefs whom he had
slain, and the blows of his awful AK rained
straight and true, shearing through every
thing they fell on. There was none of the
this last immortal fight of his; he had no
time fOrit, butstruck with his full strength
and at every stroke q man sank in his
tracks, and went rafting down the marble
steps.
They hacked and hewed at him with
swords and spears, WOunding him in q
dozen places till he streamed red with
blood; but the shield protected his head
and the chain-shirt his vitals, and for
minute after minute, aided by the gallant
Zu-Vendi, he still held the stair.
At last Kara's sword broke, and he Crap
pied with foe, and they rolled down to-
gether, and he was cut to pieces, dying like
brave man that he was
Umsiopogaas was alone now, but he
never blenched or tn led. Shouting out
some wild Zulu battle-cry, he beat down
foe, ay, and another, and another, till at
last they drew back from the slippery
blood-stained steps, and stared at him in
amazement thinking that he was no NOR
tai man.
The wall of marble block was four feet
six high now, and hope rose in my heartas
| leaned there against it miserable, help
less log, and ground my teeth, and watched
that glorious struggle. [ could do no
more for had lost my revolver in the bat
tie.
And old Umslopogaas, he leaned too on
his good ak, and, faint as he was with
wounds, he Knocked them he called them
'women"-the grand old warrior, standing
there against so many And for q breath
ing space none would come against him,
notwithstanding Nasta,s eyhortations. till
at last old Agon, VINO, 10 do INN justice,
was brave man, mad with baflled rage
and seeing that the wall would soon be
built and his plans defeated shook the
great spear he held and rushed up the
dripping steps.
t'Ah, ahp' shouted the Zulu as he recog-
nized the priests flowing white beard, st
is thou, old 'witch-finderl' Come on I
await thee, white 'medicine-man;' come
on come onl j have sworn to Stay thee,
and ever keep my faith"
On he came, taking him at his word, and
drave the big spear with such force at UNI
slopogaas that it sunk right through the
tough shield and pierced him in the neck
The Zulu cast down his transfxed shield,
and that moment was Agon's last, for be-
fore he could free his spear and strike
again, with a shout of ''1Fleres for thee,
Ipdi7l-1llakerp' Umslopogaas gripped In
kosikaas with both hands and whirled her
on high and drove her right on to his ven
cradle head, so that Agon rolled down
dead among the corpses of his fellow-mur-
derers, and there was an end of him and
his plots together. And even as he fell, a